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On the predictive validity of automatically activated approach/avoidance tendencies in abstaining alcohol-dependent patients

Journal

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

Volume | Issue number

127 | 1-3

Pages (from-to)

81-86

Document type

Article

Faculty

Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG)

Institute

Psychology Research Institute (PsyRes)

Abstract

BackgroundProminent addiction models posit that automatically activated approach/avoidance tendencies play a critical
role in addiction. Nevertheless, only a limited number of studies have actually documented the relationship between relapse
and automatically activated approach/avoidance tendencies. We compared automatically activated approach/avoidance tendencies
towards alcohol in 40 abstaining alcohol-dependent patients and 40 controls. We also examined whether individual differences
in automatically activated approach/avoidance tendencies towards alcohol are predictive of relapse in patients.

MethodsA
Relevant Stimulus Response Compatibility task was used to measure relative approach/avoidance tendencies. In one block of
trials, participants were asked to approach alcohol-related pictures and to avoid alcohol-unrelated pictures (i.e., compatible
block). In a second block of trials, participants were asked to approach alcohol-unrelated pictures and to move away from
alcohol-related pictures (i.e., incompatible block). Patients were tested between 18 and 21 days after they quit drinking.
Relapse was assessed 3 months after patients were discharged from the hospital.

ResultsWhereas abstaining alcohol-dependent
patients were faster to respond to incompatible trials as compared to compatible trials, participants in the control group
showed the exact opposite pattern. Within the patient group, the likelihood of relapse increased as participants were faster
to respond to incompatible trials relative to compatible trials.

ConclusionsUnlike controls, abstaining alcohol-dependent
patients revealed a relative avoidance bias rather than relative approach bias. Moreover, relapse rates were found to increase
as the relative tendency to avoid alcohol increased. This finding suggests that an avoidance orientation towards alcohol can
potentially be harmful in clinical samples.

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